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Tag: cycling

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Edge of Heaven – New film launches new bikepacking and cycle routes on Route YC

Today we have launched a network of twelve new routes for gravel cycling, bikepacking, cycle touring, road cycling and touring, ranging from 9 to 260 miles (15 – 415 km) in length on Route YC on the Yorkshire Coast. Like our ‘Explore Your Boundaries Argyll‘ the new film produced by Markus Stitz – ‘Edge of Heaven’ – features world record holders Mark Beaumont and Jenny Graham and takes you on a journey through some of the region’s best coast and countryside scenery and local attractions.

Adventure Bikepacking Route

At the heart of the collection is the Route YC Adventure Route. It starts and finishes at Scarborough Railway Station and features stunning cliffs and beaches, remote moors, dark skies, picturesque villages and towns. Designed for gravel bikes, the bikepacking route is equally fun on mountain bikes, combining a good mix of gravel paths, singletrails, cycle path and quiet roads – at times on fast and flat sections, at other times negotiating the hills that give riders a taste of real Yorkshire grit. A friendly Yorkshire welcome is guaranteed where riders stop.

Adventure Weekender Route

A shorter bikepacking route, the Route YC Adventure Weekender, packs in everything that is unique about the Yorkshire Coast into a long weekend, and a Route YC Cycle Touring Route from the ferry terminal in Hull to Staithes, offers a stunning journey along the coast on touring and e-bikes.

Endorsed by world cyclists

Mark Beaumont comments: ‘Whilst of course the bike’s the best way in my humble opinion to explore the world on two wheels, it’s not just about the riding. It’s about discovering these beautiful little Yorkshire villages and little market towns. There’s a lot of history in this area which I’ve really appreciated coming across and seeing by bike.’

Jenny Graham comments: ‘If somebody was coming out here on their first bikepacking trip, then they would be able to tailor it so it was really manageable. And equally, if people are out here and they are really experienced, then they have the option of making the days a bit more challenging and a bit harder. And I think that’s something quite unique about this route.’

The new Route YC cycle routes have been developed in partnership with navigation and route planning app, Komoot. Designed by Great British Gravel Rides author and Bikepacking Scotland founder Markus Stitz, they will help local people and visitors of all ages and abilities explore the Yorkshire coast and countryside on gravel, touring and road bikes. Several day trips start in the Yorkshire coast towns of Whitby, Scarborough, Filey, Bridlington, Hornsea and Withernsea, and the North York Moors village of Grosmont.

Rob Marshall, Marketing Manager UK at Komoot, said: ‘Komoot has been committed to providing a wide range of adventure inspiration since its inception – so we’re delighted to be supporting Route YC in creating accessible cycling adventures for everyone. The new cycle routes will showcase the diversity of the Yorkshire coast landscape and provide people with the inspiration to saddle up and enjoy everything the region has to offer.’

The new cycle route itineraries are available at routeyc.co.uk/cycling and komoot.com/user/routeyc. ‘Edge of Heaven’ is available on YouTube. People can also follow Route YC on social media, on Facebook at facebook.com/RouteYC, on Instagram at www.instagram.com/routeyc and X (Twitter) at twitter.com/routeyc.

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Round the world cyclists explore Scotland’s Adventure Coast in a new film

After the success of their first two Explore Your Boundaries films, round the world cyclists Mark Beaumont and Markus Stitz have teamed up with Jenny Graham, the fastest woman to cycle around the world, and filmmaker and photographer Maciek Tomiczek to explore the boundary of Scotland’s Adventure Coast. Their journey is beautifully captured in a new 14-min film ‘Explore Your Boundaries – Argyll and the Isles’, which has just been released on YouTube.

Their 500-mile (800km) route is a key feature of Wild About Argyll’s Pedaddling initiative, led by Argyll & The Isles Tourism Cooperative with funding from VisitScotland, which is showcasing the wealth of people-powered adventures available to the novice and the enthusiast across the breadth of Argyll and the Isles, easily accessible by public transport. The film was produced with additional support from Schwalbe Tyres UK, and sees the three adventurers using their gravel bikes as well as ferries and boats to travel along the boundary of Argyll and explore its rugged coasts and beautiful scenery.

Mark Beaumont commented: “I love the idea behind Explore Your Boundaries; you don’t need to go far to find adventure – and that is surprisingly true of Argyll, sitting immediately to the west of Glasgow. This was a much longer route than our rides in 2021. The rugged Argyll coastline and the Inner Hebridean islands were perfect to showcase opportunities to find new routes to inspire people to get out. We are spoilt for choice in terms of places to go in Scotland, and I want to give people the quiet confidence of getting out there and having adventures themselves, to appreciate wild spaces and get a new understanding of what’s on their doorstep.”

Jenny Graham commented: “It was exciting to be joining Mark and Markus to explore the boundary of Argyll and the Isles. I think it’s the perfect concept to showcase the adventure potential available from your doorstep. We were using Scotrail’s Highland Explorer carriage and Calmac ferries for part of our journey, which made getting to and cycling in the wild and diverse area of Argyll all the more accessible. Each time I adventure in this area I’m left with the feeling that I’ve only just scratched the surface.”

The three round the world cyclists cycled the boundary of Argyll in three ‘chapters’. Mark Beaumont and Markus Stitz kicked off their adventures in May with boat ride with Venture West from Crinan to the northern end of the Isle of Jura, cycling on gravel tracks and ‘The Long Road’ along the island’s rugged east coast to Craighouse, and on to the ferry from Feolin to Port Askaig. After a loop on Islay, including a visit to Bunnahabhain Distillery and Finlaggan, the Centre of the Lordship of the Isles, they continued their journey with Calmac Ferries via Colonsay to Oban, and from there to Tobermory on the Isle of Mull. While the original plan was to cycle on Coll and Tiree on the third day, high winds meant that both cyclists couldn’t travel to the smaller islands. The great gravel tracks and quiet coastal roads on the Isle of Mull offered a great alternative, and Mark and Markus finished the first chapter by taking the ferry back to Oban.

The second chapter of ‘Explore Your Boundaries – Argyll and the Isles’ took Jenny Graham and Markus Stitz from Dunoon on the Cowal Peninsula to Helensburgh, bikepacking parts of the Wild About Argyll Trail and Dunoon Dirt Dash routes. From Helensburgh the two cyclists put their waterproofs to a proper test and rode in, at times torrential, rain on the John Muir Way and Sustrans Lochs and Glens North route to Balmaha, and crossed Loch Lomond by water taxi. From Luss their journey took them along the western shore of the largest lake in Great Britain by surface area, and on the West Highland Way to Crianlarich. After drying all clothes at Crianlarich Youth Hostel they continued on the third day to Tyndrum, and from there through Glen Orchy to Dalmally. Scotrail’s Highland Explorer train took both cyclists to Connel Ferry, from where they cruised to Oban to enjoy a glorious Argyll sunset.

The third chapter of the film involved all three cyclists, accompanied by filmmaker Maciek Tomiczek (‘What Would Mary Do?’). From Cairnbaan they enjoyed their journey along the Crinan Canal and a sunset swim with Dan the Merman, a local wild swimming and snorkelling guide. On the following day they continued along the Knapdale & Kintyre coasts to Tayinloan, and with another Calmac ferry to the Isle of Gigha. From Gigha they carried on along the Kintyre 66 route to Southend at the Mull of Kintyre, and then along the Caledonia Way from Campbeltown to Tarbert. After another ferry and breakfast at Portavadie Marina they continued along Argyll’s Secret Coast to Colintraive, and around the Isle of Bute to Rothesay, to finish the ride on the Canada Hill serpentine road.

Cathy Craig, CEO at Wild About Argyll, said: “Appetite for the great outdoors grew massively during lockdown with bike, SUP and wetsuit sales rocketing. This summer, we created Pedaddling to encourage everyone to leave the car behind and enjoy people-powered adventures in stunning locations on Scotland’s Adventure Coast. And as you’ll see from the film, Mark, Jenny and Markus are the perfect people to showcase what is on offer on Glasgow’s doorstep.” 

David Adams McGilp, Regional Director VisitScotland, said: “Every year tens of thousands of visitors come to Scotland to explore our country by bike, including the stunning scenery and coastline around Argyll & Isles, and we expect this epic journey will inspire many more. There’s no better time to celebrate the power of the bike, as we countdown to next year’s UCI Cycling World Championships taking place in Glasgow and across Scotland.”

The film is available to watch with English and German subtitles on YouTube here, and the full route can be found on the Wild About Argyll Komoot channel here. More about Explore Your Boundaries can be found here.

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Built to Last – A new film from Bikepacking Scotland set in the Cateran Ecomuseum launches seven new cycling itineraries in Perthshire and Angus

Filmed on locations featured in seven new and six existing cycling itineraries in the Cateran Ecomuseum, ‘Built to Last‘ is the latest film from round the world singlespeed cyclist and founder of Bikepacking Scotland Markus Stitz. The 10-minute documentary featuring Bob Ellis, founder of the Cateran Trail, Neil Tuer, owner of Alyth Cycles and Jane Wilkinson, willow weaver at Special Branch Baskets, with music from Dave Macfarlane, launches seven new cycling itineraries designed for road, mountain, gravel and touring bikes as part of Travel for All Our Tomorrows – which aims to develop new regenerative tourism experiences in the Cateran Ecomuseum.

Built to Last is available now on YouTube

The Cateran Ecomuseum is a museum without walls, close to the cities of Perth and Dundee in Scotland, both accessible by a new electric bus service from Edinburgh. One of a growing number of ecomuseums worldwide, all its sites are outside. Community led, it empowers local people to take an active role in preserving the objects, sites and cultural practices they value. Providing over 20 pre-designed cycling and walking routes that reveal the hidden heritage of this little known part of Scotland, the museum’s website also offers visitors to design their own routes around its 130 sites of interest.

Travel for All Our Tomorrows, a campaign to position the Cateran Ecomuseum as one of Scotland’s premier car-free holiday destinations, was funded through Smarter Choices Smarter Places by Paths for All, Cairngorms National Park, NatureScot, Perth & Kinross Council and Thomson Charitable Trust, together with the Cateran Ecomuseum’s own directors.

The itineraries developed by Bikepacking Scotland, for mountain bikes, gravel bikes, road bikes and touring bikes, can be downloaded as GPX files for free on the Ecomuseum’s website www.cateranecomuseum.co.uk. They range from 8.3km to 109km and feature a variety of points of interest like stone circles, standing stones, historic churches and wildlife reserves along the way.

Markus Stitz, creator of the new cycling routes and director of the film, comments: ‘Climate change and the impact of my actions on future generations is something that concerns me deeply, and I would like to offer people positive alternatives to our very car-focussed culture. For me travelling by bike has had a massive positive impact on my life, both for my own physical and mental wellbeing. I understand that changing our habits will take time and depend on good alternatives like the electric bus service I used to get to the Ecomuseum from Edinburgh. But as Jane wonderfully puts it in the film, we can make a small difference and can be part of a better history in the future. 

In my eyes we need to be more mindful about what impact we have on our planet and future generations, so that beautiful places like the Cateran Ecomuseum will inspire generations to come. For me the joy of cycling doesn’t depend on the latest innovation in cycling. It depends on a connection with people and places, and the Cateran Ecomuseum has provided exactly that for me. I came to visit for the first time in March 2019, and the idea of making a film about this part of Scotland has been on my mind since then. Clare Cooper, who’s amazing drive and vision has helped me turn an idea into a tangible outcome, invited me and I have returned many times, mostly on my bike. Being able to share the routes I enjoyed through the project and portraying people like Bob, Jane and Neil, people that make the Cateran Ecomuseum such a special place, made this one of the most rewarding sustainable tourism projects I have worked on.’

Travel for All Our Tomorrows will also work with local communities and businesses in the Ecomuseum area during 2021 to promote a new family friendly cycling event and one new temporary outdoor arts installation. All routes and more information about the Cateran Ecomuseum can be found at cateranecomuseum.co.uk, Facebook @cateranecomuseum, Twitter @CateranEco, or Instagram @cateraneco. 

Watch the Q&A session about the routes, film and sustainable tourism
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A day on the Central Belter

The biggest joy when developing new bikepacking trails is finding new trails, riding them, riding them again … and again. After riding and enjoying a trail in various conditions it is fit for the purpose of being included in a bikepacking adventure, and I must admit I am a perfectionist when it comes to finding the right route. This doubles up as a perfect excuse to jump on the bike and ride bits I have already decided on again, and eventually finding the hidden gems that you miss the first few times you ride a trail. And then eventually I make the final changes, and the result hopefully paints loads of smiles on people’s faces. Developing the Capital Trail followed exactly that approach, and the development of the Central Belter will be no different. Continue reading “A day on the Central Belter”